Spree started in chapter 365. CHAPTER 366 WAS VERY IMPORTANT - please don't skip it. 

Join the party by showering your comments and pressing star. Spree is going on ALL WEEK. 💃🎉🎊🥳

And everyone who's here, still supporting me after all this time... I'm literally moved to tears. I love each and every one of you. ♥

--

When Bondita woke up the next morning, she felt around the bed for Anirudh.

"Pati Babu," Bondita said, a smile on her face as she tried to feel for him.

When she realized he wasn't there, she opened her eyes and turned in bed, only to notice him by the windowsill, staring outside. 

Anirudh was standing by the window... a sullen expression on his face. His eyes were swollen, dark bags under his eyes.

Bondita got out of bed and approached him, her hand on her belly. She massaged her belly gently as if bidding her baby good morning. 

"Are you okay Pati Babu?" she asked as soon as she reached him.

He looked like he hadn't slept well last night at all. And also like he was under deep stress.

Anirudh squeezed his eyes shut and said, "We need to talk Bondita." 

"Yes, Pati Babu?" Bondita asked, reaching up and touching his arm gently. 

Anirudh opened his eyes and turned to look at her. "Bondita, freshen up first," he told her softly. 

"But it sounds important!" 

Anirudh took her hand and lead her to the bathroom. "Do as I say Bondita." 

She sighed as Anirudh took her toothbrush and put some toothpaste on it. He handed it to her. 

She didn't take it. 

"Bondita," Anirudh said sternly. 

He knew that she would not be in a state to do anything if he broke the news now. She should at least start her day right. 

Bondita opened her mouth and pointed to it. "You brush my teeth." 

Anirudh sighed and gently clasped her open jaw from under her chin, his index and middle finger resting against one cheek, his thumb pressed against the other. Then he used his other hand to rest the toothbrush against her teeth. 

"After all this time, you need me to brush your teeth for you?" he asked, shaking his head. "Didn't I make you independent Bondita?" 

A glare was shot at him, as he brushed her teeth for her, in circular motions, and gently - making sure that he got in the nooks and crannies. 

When he finished, he rinsed her toothbrush, and Bondita rinsed her mouth. 

"Pati Babu, I wanted to learn!" Bondita finally said, looking up at him. 

"Learn what?" Anirudh asked, frowning. 

"How you would brush our baby's teeth when they grow teeth!" 

Anirudh looked at her, his eyes widening. 

"So this was why --" he started. 

"Of course Pati Babu! This was why! I wanted to see how our baby's Baba would be towards them. I wanted to learn how to brush someone else's teeth. So I was observing you do it! With so much care and gentleness - I don't know if I'd be able to do it the same way." 

"Bondita," Anirudh said with a heavy heart. "The baby won't have to brush for some time."

"Wash my face too!" Bondita then demanded, ignoring his logic.

Anirudh shook his head slowly and reached to the sink to wash her face. He gently took water and wiped her face clean. 

Bondita smiled as he turned off the tap, and then brought a towel to dry her face. 

"Bondita, you're observing me too much," he said, as he wiped her face dry. 

"What can I do?" Bondita asked with a pout, "When you used to do these things for me, I was a child and never thought that one day I'd be a mother with these responsibilities too!" 

"What's there in washing a face and brushing teeth?" Anirudh then asked. 

"A lot!" Bondita huffed, "If you do it too harshly, you'll hurt the baby! But you were so gentle with me." 

Bondita started to take off her nightgown, stripping naked. 

"I'm going to take a shower now. You'll wash my body too, right?" Bondita asked with a grin. "Did you shower yet?" 

Anirudh couldn't help but smile now. This girl and her cheekiness. 

"You're pretending to be a baby right now, so no tricks," he teased. 

"You wish there were," Bondita huffed, as she turned on the tap. 

Anirudh chuckled and removed his clothing, momentarily forgetting all about the axe looming over his head. 

He joined Bondita in the shower, where warm water was raining from the shower head. 

Bondita was already getting rained on, her hair wet, matted against her body. 

"Do I need to remind you how this is done?" Anirudh asked, shaking his head, as he took a bar of soap from the holder. 

Bondita reached towards him, her arm wrapping around his body, pulling him close. 

"Remind me," she whispered seductively, recalling their encounter in the shower after she gave a speech about menstruation. 

That had been a hot shower, alright. 

"Not so much of a baby anymore," Anirudh murmured, as he took the bar of soap and started to gently massage her back with it. 

Bondita trembled and pressed her naked and wet body against his own. 

"Your intentions don't seem right," he whispered to her, as her lips pressed against his wet neck. 

She started to suck on his neck. "I can't help it," she murmured, "You look delicious." 

He put the soap away, thinking there was no point now. After all, his wife wanted to do some grown-up things all of a sudden. 

"But you had something to tell me," Bondita mumbled, as Anirudh reached down her back to her bottom, feeling her curves. 

Anirudh suddenly felt a pang in his heart. 

Bondita looked up at him, into his eyes. "What is it, Pati Babu?" 

"Bondita, I wanted to... to talk to you about some things. But, let's finish showering first," he said to her. 

Her hands reached up to his cheeks, cupping them. 

"Pati Babu, you look so serious. Is everything okay?" 

He nodded, "It will be okay." 

It had to be. It... just had to be. As soon as Saudamini healed... as soon as the trauma wouldn't shake her anymore, he would tell her the truth. How long could that take? 

A week? Two weeks? A month, max?

He would be good. Very good to Saudamini. 

So that she healed quickly, and he could live happily with his Bondita and his baby. 

That was his plan. 

"Bondita," he rested his forehead against hers as the shower rained down on them. "You say you trust me right?"

"More than anything else," she whispered breathlessly. 

Anirudh leaned closer to her and whispered, "Then you'll understand... if I take... some..." He took a deep breath, "Some decisions?"

"When have I ever not understood?" Bondita asked him softly. 

He caressed her cheeks with his thumbs, and he whispered, "You can... take care of yourself?" 

Bondita furrowed her eyebrows now, and asked, "Why?"

Anirudh pressed his lips on hers gently, kissing her sweet mouth. "I know you c - can. I don't doubt you and your abilities." He was murmuring against her wet lips. 

"Pati Babu -" he quietened her with a deeper kiss, eradicating her fears, with the water rinsing them. 

Almost like the water was washing away them and their relationship, as it was known. 

Anirudh teared up. His tears mixing with the water, as he kissed Bondita. 

We have to separate Bondita. For a little while. Only for a little while... he thought in his mind. How do I break it to you? How do I tell you, that the woman that tried to murder you... for her sake, I have to leave you? How do I tell you, that if I don't do this, the lives of thousands of other girls will be uncertain?

Anirudh sobbed silently as he kissed her. Bondita could sense some uneasiness in his heartbeat, and she hugged him tighter, deepening the kiss more, trying to absorb everything he was going through within herself. 

You're so powerful Bondita. 

Women are so incredibly powerful. They are the only beings that can house two souls inside one body. 

Men can't do that. 

We can offer to open our homes, but we can never open our bodies, because it's biologically impossible. But you women, Bondita? You all can. 

We have to worship females. They have this sheer power. The sheer power to provide for another. They're the ones who have the most amount of compassion. 

And I know... I know you will understand. But is it fair Bondita? That to heal the one who nearly murdered you, I have to leave you? Is it fair, when that trauma still runs through you?

Anirudh grabbed Bondita's hips, and he kissed her harder, not willing to leave her. 

"Pati Babu," Bondita moaned, trying to break the kiss to breathe, but he only gave her a second - that was it, because he attacked her mouth again. 

He then, gently - very, very gently - pinned Bondita against the wall, and entered her, making love to her in the shower. 

Bondita was breathing quickly, feeling ecstatic - her hormones running wild inside of her body.

Pregnancy hormones were real. 

The desire for Anirudh was always so strong, but during pregnancy, the hormones were wild more often. 

One moment she was sobbing, and one moment, she was craving foods (coffee was one of her strongest cravings - and she had lost the cravings for roshogullas and sweet foods - which was shocking for Bondita!). 

The worst... or best? Was the fact that she craved her Pati Babu desperately. 

If at any moment, he wasn't here when she craved him, she would probably lose her senses. The craving was so strong.

Finally, when they got out of the shower and wiped themselves dry, they were getting dressed in their bedroom.

Anirudh finished buckling his belt, as Bondita was working on her red saree. 

"That was intense Pati Babu," Bondita teased, as she threw her pleated pallu over her shoulders. 

"Couldn't help it," he just murmured. 

"I was only asking you to show me how you would shower our baby," Bondita said, feigning innocence. 

"Our baby would get a bath, not a shower first of all - so it was always a trap," he managed to say, as he glanced at her features - features he could never get tired of studying.

How would it work? 

Bondita could still be here, right? 

With him? 

Saudamini could be with her Baba, and Anirudh would go and visit her once in a while. She didn't need to come here. 

So there was no reason... to leave Bondita. Right?

"Now tell me, what do you want to talk to me about?" Bondita finally asked, as she started to select her jewelry. 

Anirudh approached her in front of the mirror, and took her earrings and necklace from the table. 

"Come," he ordered, and went to sit on the bed. 

He placed the jewelry pieces down on the bed and opened his legs, indicating for her to sit on his lap. 

Bondita sat on one of his thighs, her legs clasped between his two legs. 

Anirudh took an earring and started to adorn her, loving the way her weight felt on his lap. She was ever-so-slightly heavier now, but he loved it.  

"Bondita, do you remember... Saud..." he couldn't finish it. He remembered her reaction in Darjeeling when he told her that Saudamini had left jail. Bondita had completely panicked. "You remember... I told you that Saudamini had finished her sentence?" 

Suddenly he could feel Bondita's breathing get heavy and Anirudh had to let go of her ear, otherwise, he was worried he'd accidentally cut it with the back of the earring, just by the amount she was shaking. 

"P - Pati Babu why - why are you bringing her up?" Bondita asked, panicking. "Did - did she c - come here? Will she h - hurt our b - baby? Pati Babu!" Bondita's eyes grew wet, as she shivered. 

Anirudh wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. 

"Bondita no, no she won't. She... won't -" 

"Pati Babu k - keep her away from me. Please P- Pati Babu. She's d - dangerous. She's -" Bondita was panicking. 

Anirudh felt his eyes grow wet. Bondita had been a child - traumatized by the experience that Saudamini had put her through. That fear had scarred her deeply. 

"She won't c - come near you Bondita," Anirudh whispered. "She won't." 

"Then wh - why are you m - mentioning h - her -" 

"She... she isn't e- evil right now --" 

"WHAT - DO - YOU - MEAN?" Bondita gasped, freaking out. "PATI - BABU -" Her breaths were uneven. 

"Bondita, breathe," Anirudh whispered, "Please. Take deep breaths." 

Bondita tried to breathe more deeply, but she was reminded of the memory of that shack - that kidnapping in her school clothes. The trauma... and then Sourabh dying because of her. 

Her Pati Babu lost his best friend, because she didn't die. 

Survivor's guilt was in her too. 

"Bondita breathe! Your panic isn't good for the baby!" 

Bondita breathed deeply, her eyes wet. 

"I w - won't bring her up. I w - won't," Anirudh shook his head. "Not when you - you're in this state." 

"Why did you m - mention her then? Is - is it d - dangerous?" 

"It's not," Anirudh whispered, and he just engulfed her in a tight hug against his lap. "It's not dangerous. I won't let anything happen to the baby or you." 

"You - you too. S - she can hurt y - you too Pati Babu," Bondita squeezed her eyes shut. 

She could face anyone - any kidnappers (like the experience she had recently), with her powerful aura and demeanour. But... when it came to Saudamini Bhoumik, Bondita couldn't forget. 

Bondita couldn't forget the fear and heartbreak she faced because of her. She couldn't forget how close Saudamini had been to her Pati Babu. And how that same Pari Didi, tried to take her life... and accidentally took her Pati Babu's best friend's life instead. 

Bondita should have died instead of Sourabh that day, and the guilt was still there buried in her heart. 

"Nobody will hurt me. Don't worry Bondita." 

Bondita breathed deeply as Anirudh caressed her hair. 

After a few moments, Anirudh whispered, "Bondita... I need you t - to have blind faith in me. Do you promise, you will?"

Bondita nodded without a doubt against his chest. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. 

This was it. 

This was the only way he could do it.

Bondita wouldn't be able to have a safe pregnancy if he told her the truth - the way she was reacting right now meant that she would live in fear every moment if she knew the truth.

And he was already worried about her pregnancy as it was. 

He had to leverage her faith. 

He would not risk anything else. 

--

Precap: 

Anirudh was packing Bondita's bags, as she watched with shock. 

"W - what are y - you doing P - Pati Babu?" Bondita asked tearfully. 

"I'm sending you to stay with Manika and Manoshi," Anirudh answered. 

Tears flowed down her eyes and she whispered, "You specifically a - asked me to have blind faith in you... so I w - won't q - question y - you." 

Anirudh went to Bondita and begged, tears in his eyes, "Bondita, don't let this faith break. No matter what you see or hear. Please, Bondita." 

Bondita's lips trembled, as she watched him break down in front of her. 

"Bondita can break. But Bondita's faith will never break. I will die before I lose faith in you Pati Babu." 

Immediately his finger reached her lips, tears rolling down his cheeks. 

"Don't say such things -" 

Bondita grabbed his hand and sobbed against it. 

--

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! 

Did you enjoy the shower romance? 

Don't worry, there's a LOT of romance in this track - so stay tuned. 😉 

What will happen now?

It's SPREE PARTY week, so join in with your fabulous comments. 💃🎉🎊

Hit the star button! As soon as I see it crosses a certain star count it triggers me to update quicker. 

LOVE YOU ALL! ♥♥♥